pat hayes wrote:
>
> >pat hayes wrote:
> >
> >[...]
> >
> Ah. OK, as long as we are clear about that, then I agree. I was under
> the impression (and I can no longer remember where this came from, or
> if I just imagined it) that the buyer/seller scenario was supposed to
> be a case where the seller said something existed (to do with
> flowers) and the buyer said he *wished* that something existed, or
> maybe that he was *asking* if something existed, and that was the
> basis on which the match-making worked. If they are both just telling
> the world something, then *everyone* is making assertions.
>
This is how it seemed to me all along but I thought I'd missed
something.
The seller asserts that he has roses. The buyer asserts that he has the
capacity to accept roses. The two assertions have no (static) link
(apart from some common symbols) until an agent (which may represent an
actual intermediary or just a piece of software that a rose buyer would
use) matches the two assertions under an interpretation that (by the
nature of the agency) matches the two (ie, one applies a matchmaker
algorithm). This algorithm may apply query-like interpretation (and
transformation) to either of the assertions (either a seller's query or
a buyer's query). The assertions are symmetrically disposed until then.
Or have I missed something else?
(My brain has been hurting since I started here...) (Also I'm beginning
to use too many brackets)
--
Martyn Horner <martyn.horner@profium.com>
Profium (former name Pro Solutions), Les Espaces de Sophia,
Immeuble Delta, B.P. 037, F-06901 Sophia-Antipolis, France
Tel. +33 (0)4.93.95.31.44 Fax. +33 (0)4.93.95.52.58
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